BOULDER — Colorado players and coaches have talked all season about sending out the seniors with a scrapbook of fond memories.

Anybody get a picture Friday night of the scoreboard showing the Buffaloes taking that early lead on No. 21 Southern California?

Unfortunately for the home crowd, the thrill lasted about 2 1/2 minutes. Trojans junior quarterback Matt Barkley, in full view of a national ESPN audience and countless NFL scouts, wouldn't allow his team to dwell on Colorado's opening-drive touchdown for much longer than a TV timeout.

Barkley set a school record by slinging six touchdown passes and, as expected, Southern Cal cruised to a 42-17 win in front of 50,083 at Folsom Field.

"Well, that's a tough one," CU coach Jon Embree said. "I thought the way we came out and played with good intensity and energy and great home crowd . . . but they slowly wore us down."

Colorado (1-9, 0-6 Pac-12) played better and certainly kept the game interesting a bit longer than when getting whacked by an average score of 48-12 against Stanford, Washington, Oregon and Arizona State in October.

But despite being thin in numbers due to NCAA sanctions, Southern California (7-2, 4-2) can match almost anybody in individual talent and athleticism — even when having to start three freshman linebackers because of injuries, as it did Friday night.

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Barkley, a sure-fire NFL first-round draft choice next spring if he chooses to turn pro, makes it tough on defenses with his poise and accuracy. On one USC formation that gave Colorado fits, the Trojans split out two receivers to the left and two to the right.

Barkley then picked out the receiver in single coverage, or he handed off to a blue-chip tailback on an isolation play with no back-end CU defenders available to help.

USC QB Matt Barkley, left, controls the offense against CU defense in the 1st half of the game at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado, Friday November 4, 2011. Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post (THE DENVER POST | Hyoung Chang)

"He's a heck of a player," Embree said of Barkley. "That's why he needs to leave (for the NFL) next year. He needs to go."

Southern Cal already had 294 yards of offense by halftime and finished with 561 yards. Barkley finished 25-of-39 passing for 318 yards, and 254 of those went to Robert Woods (130 yards on nine catches) and Marqise Lee (124 on nine).

"It's pretty difficult when they have so many weapons," CU linebacker Derrick Webb said. "They had a good strategy with their play-action fake. Their third downs (6-of-11) were pretty much the difference."

CU QB Tyler Hansen warms up for the game against USC at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado, on Friday, Nov. 4, 2011. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

At least Colorado fans had reason to cheer the opening drive. After a 29-yard kickoff return by former walk-on Justin Gorman, CU quarterback Tyler Hansen went to work. Completions to Rodney Stewart and Toney Clemons moved the chains. Hansen then found Clemons down the middle on a slant-in, and the senior outraced USC cornerback Tony Burnett for a 37-yard touchdown.

That put the Buffs in front for the first time since leading Washington State 27-24 in the fourth quarter Oct. 1.

Colorado had reason to be fired up coming out of the gate. CU fans were encouraged to wear black for a "black out," and Buffs players donned all-black uniforms, including a black helmet for the first time since a 1998 win over Baylor.

But pump-it-up pregame emotion extends only so long on a football field. After that opening-series touchdown drive, the Buffs had to punt away their next four possessions.

"It was the same thing, guys not executing," said Hansen, who was 17-of-37 passing for 250 yards and two touchdowns, both to Toney Clemons (112 yards on five catches).

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